2002. Something was just missing – more like lacking. It was driving me nuts and realized that I had no OUTLET from my day-to-day, week-to-week… that sort of thing. Bar meet-ups with friends and co-workers were routine (and getting old), considering I just graduated from college two years ago, back then. That OUTLET or RELEASE was in a form of regular athletic competition and camaraderie that work couldn’t fill.

I was walking around the Union Square-area of Manhattan on a chilly, late-March weekend, and happened to pass by Paragon Sports – the (overpriced) place where my parents purchased my first lacrosse stick in grade school. Having time to kill, I decided to enter and peruse their sparse selection of lacrosse sticks and equipment, in the interest of seeing ‘what’s new’. I looked at what they had and nothing caught my interest. A customer next to me said out loud,

“the material today is way different than my time during the 70’s…I’m Drew by the way…”

I shook Drew’s hand and noticed an STX Lacrosse cap on his head. We discussed our lacrosse backgrounds/experiences and I wondered if this was the ONLY lacrosse-fan in my hometown of NYC (besides myself). Drew insisted to exchange numbers to keep in touch and I found that a bit strange at first, but I eventually agreed. Drew left many messages on my voice-mail asking to see if I wanted to “throw the lacrosse ball around” but I never responded. Weeks and months passed and Drew called again (among many times prior), but this time I decided to acknowledge his phone call at the least. He mentioned getting word of a pick-up lacrosse game that was to happen the weekend coming up at the City College of New York (at one point, one of the oldest, continuing lacrosse programs in the nation!). I was excited with the news and agreed, and we decided to meet-up and travel up to City College together. I collected my lacrosse equipment at my parent’s place, which I was happy they still kept! The feeling of playing in a big game the night before, regardless of a simple, pick-up game, returned to me.

Drew and I met in front of Paragon Sports and entered the subway going uptown to 137th St. Sticks and bags lying on the subway car, we got so many cold and strange stares from the ‘jaded New Yorkers’ around us. We got off at 137th St. and Broadway, got above ground and walked up a hill towards City College’s athletic facilites on Convent Ave. The tall stadium lights started to appear from the distance and upon our arrival, we reached an old astroturf-field, marked with lacrosse-field lines, two orange goal-cages and about 35 lacrosse players of different ages – stretching and throwing the lacrosse ball around. They were all NYC-based.

My life totally changed for the better, right there, at that moment!

Thanks to Drew, I finally found what was missing.

(With Drew Andreotti – center. 2005 NCAA Div. 1 Final Four)

(Drew and Lax All Stars-crew at 2010 U.S. National Lacrosse Convention – Baltimore)

At the 2009 US Lacrosse Convention, the Power-Tek Performance Gear company were my neighbors in the Vendor Hall. Owners and brothers, Jim and Tom Lalli, kept me company during the long hours of the event, telling stories and jokes. During the down-time we perused each others products and inventory, telling the reasons behind both brands. By the end of the event, Jim bought the original of “Clear” telling me it looked exactly like his son who is a lacrosse goalie.

A year later, at the 2010 Lacrosse Convention we found our booths diagonally across from each other and continued our friendship from the year before, while catching up on our business status. I told Jim and Tom that my spring club lacrosse team ordered their “Dominator shorts” and became a big hit among my teammates.

We even made their “Shooter Shirt” a jersey for the most recent “War at the Shore” lacrosse tournament in Brick, NJ with The Art of Lax™ image of “Crank” screened on it. Unbeknownst to me, both Jim and Tom were at the tournament as well, as Power-Tek sponsored a few teams there and while my team was not sponsored it was good to represent their product overall.

At the 2011 Lacrosse Convention, our booths were far apart, on opposite ends, but that didn’t hinder us to say hello once in a while during lunch and/or bathroom breaks.

Present Day.

Power-Tek Performance Gear proposes to design a full-page ad for the 2011 NCAA Men’s & Women’s Final Four of Lacrosse using images from The Art of Lax™ portfolio. The thousands of fans scheduled to pack both events, we agree that it is a “win-win” for both brands.

A few weeks ago, the three of us recently met up for dinner/drinks in Hoboken, NJ after work to discuss the possible things that may arise. I mentioned how funny it was not knowing, back then, both business (practically strangers) would ever come to a stage like this. Jim added this quote that really stuck and defined the unpredictable road looking back,